Benefits of a freakishly effective social media campaign

According to research carried out by Sprout Social, consumers are 57.5% more likely to buy from a brand they follow on social media and 71% more likely to make a purchase following a positive social experience. A freakishly effective social media campaign can work wonders for your reputation on top of potentially increasing sales and profits as the majority of consumers who’ve had a good experience with a brand on social media, are likely to recommend them to others.

With so many benefits of being on social media, it probably won’t come as a huge surprise to learn that majority of small businesses are now using these platforms. While you may think it’s impossible to compete with larger brands who have tens of thousands of pounds to put into their social media strategy, small businesses do actually have a number of advantages over big businesses when it comes to social networking as they are more community-led and can therefore create stronger relationships with customers.

The first step to reaping these benefits and becoming successful on social media is to put together a social media marketing strategy.

What is a social media strategy?

A freakishly effective social media marketing strategy is a summary of everything you plan to do and achieve on your chosen platforms. It includes everything from your goals, who your intended audience is, and what your brand’s voice is going to be to what you’re going to post, when you’re going to post it, and how you’re going to measure your performance.

Why there is a need for a social media marketing strategy?

Whether you’re a one-man-band, an SME, or a large multi-national, your social media strategy is important because it allows you to address and plan what’s going to make your brand successful.

For example, if you don’t understand your audience, how do you know where they are, what they’re interested in, or how they like to be spoken to? If you don’t know what your goals are, how can you possibly know what content you should be posting?

Even if you set up your social media accounts with the best of intentions, if you don’t have a plan it won’t take long to forget about them. If you’ve taken the time to set out your goals and you’ve already planned what you’re going to post and when you’re far more likely to stick to it.

How to create a social media strategy?

1. Define your goals

Start by identifying what you want social media to achieve for you because this will determine everything from what you post to how often you post. Also, have a think about which metrics you’re going to measure so you can keep track of whether or not your efforts have been successful.

There are several ways that you can measure success. Have your sales or the number of inquiries you’ve received increased? If you direct your social media followers to a page on your website you can track how many hits it has and whether or not visitors have completed a call-to-action as a result. If you create a hashtag for your brand, you can also track how many people are using it. It’s a good idea to have a dedicated phone number, email address, and/or website page for each of your social media campaigns so you can identify where your leads and sales are coming from.

2. Think about where you’re currently succeeding

Do you tend to get more likes if you post on a certain day or at a particular time? Do your followers engage better with certain content? What gets the most likes? How do your followers talk to you? Do certain posts fall flat? Have you noticed which hashtags drive traffic to your page?

3. Understand your audience

Knowing your audience is the key to putting together a successful social media strategy. Say for example you’re targeting the 65+ age range, the type of content you post, the language you use and the platforms you choose are likely to differ hugely compared to a brand trying to attract a much younger audience.

It’s also worth noting where different audiences go online, for example, 41% of people aged 65+ have a Facebook account whereas a tiny 3% of the same age group have a Snapchat account.

This means that no matter how great your Snapchat content is if you are targeting the 65+ age bracket it’s unlikely you’re going to see the results you want from such a small audience.

Chances are that your social media audience is going to look the same as your typical customer because these are the very people who like to buy from you. Ask yourself:

Who is a typical customer? Think about their age, occupation, gender, and location.

1. What are their interests? Are they sporty, do they need parenting advice, do they like educational content or do they like to consume light-hearted content? Also, consider how your customers like to find out more about you – is it through blogs, videos, being sent information about new products, or reading case studies?
2. When are they most likely to be online? If you’re targeting professionals, your posts are more likely to be seen on weekends and in the evenings when they can check their social media pages.
3. Why does your audience use social media? Is it to read the news, follow their favourite celebrity, seek advice, engage with like-minded individuals, or buy products?
4. What type of content do they like to see on social media? Do they like educational or funny posts? Links to blogs or videos? If you’re new to social media, a great way of checking this is to look at what your competitors are posting and make a note of what gets the most engagement.

4. Choose a platform

The platform(s) that you choose for your small business are likely to come down to the resources you have and who your audience is. If you don’t have a lot of time to spend on social media, you’re better off focusing on one and doing it really well. If you’re time-poor and are trying to manage five different accounts, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to dedicate the time it needs to be successful.